Do you "write older" than you really are

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Most online people tell me they expect me to be in my late 30's (I'm 25). I went to a meetup for members of a website last year and a man who I had previously told my real age too was noticeably shocked to find out I was in fact in my 20's.

My bf and I met at a similar meetup and he also told me he was expecting someone in their mid-late 30's.

The man I'm referring to was in his mid 40's, BF was 20 when we met. But they are by no means the only people who have pinpointed me as being so much older. Actually just about everyone says that when I tell them my age. I used to think it was just because I'd been through hell and recovered from most of it so they thought I had to be older, but I'm told its more because of the way I phrase things and look at issues.

I don't pay attention to age or indicators of age online. One thing I love about communicating with people online is that you can simply focus on what they have to say and remain unaware of external, inconsequential details.

Nah, I probably appear far more educated than what I am however.

Most people I meet online assume I am around 14 to 17, but I am 37, if i mention having gone to university they guess around 24. I can seem rather simple or lacking in understanding of very obvious things. Although oddly enough people in games online (he plays with his father or me watching) assume my son is older then he is, but he was diagnosed with Aspergers and I am HFA.

Not sure? I have had people accuse me of being male all the time though.

Perhaps I do. I certainly use words like... well, "perhaps" and "certainly", which most people my age wouldn't use. Also, a lot of people my age use netspeak, which I rarely use with the exception of text messages and taking class notes (it's a lot faster).

I hope not. I'm 81.

Yes, indeed. You do sound well educated.

I usually only get that response when I have posted a picture because I look much younger than I am and well, I guess I must sound ancient then!

You don't sound older. You sound like a well-educated person.

I suppose I do - I just feel a need to present myself as a polite, educated individual through my use of language. My English writing has always been advanced for my age, beyond what anybody could've expected. An internet acquaintance did tell me that she was taken aback by how intelligent I sounded and that she felt she was talking to someone who was 40. Yes, I do tend to 'write older' than I am. Considerably.

I am always very careful writing on a message board so as not to make mistakes, to express my message as clearly as it's possible, not to lose diacritics (when I write in Polish). I try to use sophisticated vocabulary, especially in my native language (in case of writing in a foreign language it's doesn't come with such ease, one doesn't get semantic subtleties as native speakers do). I can't judge how others perceive me so it's you who should tell me if judging by my writing style I seem older or younger (I'm 23).

The other day someone told me they were surprised to find out I'm 16, and that they thought I was much older by the way I type.

Well educated and polite is often associated with older or upperclass people though. Generally younger people are expected to write more informally... generally due to the whole "texting" age.

The thoughts you express, and the words you use to express them show a lot of maturity.
Some people on this forum are all over the place emotionally, and it makes them sound like THEY'RE the sixteen year olds.

I've had people tell me I write and talk like a university professor when I'm only 18.